Live Review: Elizabeth Rose, Safia, Fishing

Elizabeth Rose's electronic performance at the Amplifier Capitol on Friday night was an enjoyable way for punters to close their repetitive working weeks. The gig commenced with two commendable opening acts: Blue Mountains duo Fishing and electro-indie three-piece SAFIA, who both showed their worth by playing ecstatic rhythms and psychedelic melodies. Fishing started their set by playing their track Choy Lin which caused the crowd to gyrate to modulating off-beats, creating an atmosphere that was borderline psychedelic. The emphatic sounds of Flume also entered the vicinity as the duo played a remix of the artist's track Insane which, flavoured with the duo's own sound, created a unique pastiche of hip hop and deep house. SAFIA created a presence with their electro-R&B infused track Paranoia, Ghosts & Other Sounds. The track's phased-out synths, pitch bending vocals and swooning bass notes enabled the cleansing of the audible palate of any lucky listener. Ben Woolner's vocal was the core to the group's soul both audibly and metaphorically. One of most impressive feats that SAFIA could muster was the fact that most of the supposed sampled vocals actually came from Woolner's voice, an impressive feat indeed.

Elizabeth Rose's set kick-started with a bang, with stylistic graphics displaying her name on the back of the projector screen just before she emerged on stage. With her strong voice and the technical expertise of her partner for the show, her pop-cum-electro-cum-deep house music created a tour-de-force for the crowd that jaunted to her technical vocal hooks and pleasing synth swoops. Rose presented the crowd with a pleasing cover of Corona's Rhythm Of The Night, which commanded the crowd to undulate to the ecstatic rhythms that Rose so wholly presented. Her unique combination of house and R&B created a beat that contained soul and melodic expression. Her final track was her new single, aptly titled Weekend. It included a strong harmony of synth and a rapid backbone that was the drum beat, allowing the punters to finally kick back and welcome the weekend into their working lives.